


Deep Observation Provides Deep Results

by pansexualstein (octavia_romanus)



Category: Soul Eater
Genre: Experiments, Fluff and Crack, M/M, One-Sided Attraction, Sweltering Jazz, Teenagers, Third-person, Trans Issues, Unrequited Crush, did i mention teenagers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-04
Updated: 2015-02-04
Packaged: 2018-03-10 13:25:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3291899
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/octavia_romanus/pseuds/pansexualstein
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Usually, as a general rule, Stein avoided watching Spirit while he was awake. After all, he got seven glorious hours to do it as he slept."</p><p>Stein is so caught up observing Spirit that he gets a little carried away in his assumptions.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Deep Observation Provides Deep Results

Usually, as a general rule, Stein avoided watching Spirit while he was awake. After all, he got seven glorious hours to do it as he slept. Good thing he was such a stickler for bedtime,  _shoo-shoo_ ing his meister to bed at ten-thirty on the nose, hovering outside the bedroom as some sort of "night watchman", making odd noises to himself until he got tired and bored by eleven. Seven minutes to change into pajamas and brush his teeth, and literally  _seconds_ for him to fall asleep. 

Stein would wait two minutes for good measure, lips moving silently as he counted the seconds, clocks dully ticking in the back of his mind, aching with every second.

And with a final, satisfying  _click_ , the one-hundred-twentieth second locked into place.

His bare feet felt cold against the concrete floors, both hands gripping his CD player as he crept down the hallway, not daring to breathe despite the knowledge that his weapon was a heavy sleeper.

Always, at ten after eleven, he'd heave a quiet sigh, matched to the sound of his partner's breathing, as his left foot breached the space that he'd always promised belonged to his partner.

Then, his movements became rapid, limbs light with anticipation, as he plugged in the CD player and clambered on the bed with senpai, who slept on his back when he was sleeping alone, swung his leg over the older one's chest and sat and  _stared_ as sweltering jazz quietly penetrated the room.

The man-- and oh  _shit_ could he be called a  _man_ \-- snored, the sound vibrating under the younger student, and despite the drool hanging from the corner of his mouth and the stringy saliva-soaked locks of red hair spilled all over, he looked, to Stein, absolutely, positively gorgeous.

And the scientist, propelled by the low tones of trombone and the resonant sound of the snores underneath his legs, used both hands to caress Spirit's cheeks and connect their lips.

And Spirit-senpai, slowly, unconsciously, moved his lips to fit, growling snores keeping time with the music and Stein, much to his embarrassment later, when he compiled his research notes on observation, would always let out a low groan, something instinctual sparked by the motion, and he'd have to pull away, regroup and refocus so that he wouldn't lose his  _mind_ with the effect the man had on him.

Stein snapped himself out of reminiscence because Spirit was across the hall and rapidly approaching--

\--a  _girl_ , to whom he began to chat with. He grasped her hands, and she began to smile widely, accustomed to his behaviours. Stein, however, was realizing much too late that Spirit-senpai acted... different when he was awake.

And as his partner began squealing and jumping for joy, much like some of the girls in his classes, the cogs began to turn.

What if... what if he was really a she? What if he'd been getting it wrong for the past few years? After all, he kept his hair  _long_ , and in a  _ponytail_ , and he was always really  _excited_ to go shopping, and, when he was drunk that one time, he wore  _heels_ , so...

"Yo, Stein." It was intended to be a greeting, but served more as an interrogation, as judgement.

The student answered with a non-committal noise that hummed across his taste buds. His heart had managed to relocate its thudding to between his ears, creating a pulsating, masochistic beat. A  _sick_ beat, he figured.

He tried to imagine Spirit in a dress and heels, hair styled with flower-themed clips to control his bangs, snakeskin pine-green purse with golden chains strung lazily over his arm and  _hot damn_ he wasn't exactly a model from a magazine but he was still hot because he was Spirit Albarn, and his lips reduced Stein to a primal creature of instinct whether they were painted or not.

"You okay?" Spirit asked, as he so often did, but when the meister turned to look at him, the blood in his body rushed to his face and he had to force his eyes to the baseboard of the school walls to stop himself from getting tongue-tied.

He could already feel the older student's smile before the hand came to invade his hair, and that action was  _always_ unwelcome, but then it made the scientist consider the possibility of  _nail polish_ \--

Stein shivered under Spirit's touch, and the smooth strokes stuttered, worried.

"Guess not," senpai joked. Wait,  _what_ did he look like without eyeshadow, oh  _crap_ that hadn't been a good idea retreat  _retreat_ \--

Words as stilted as his thoughts, the now officially tongue-tied meister blurted, "I, uh-- after class, I... I..."

A low chuckle. Hand slapped on his shoulder. He was burning. "You know what'll make you feel better? Dress-up. I've got a whole _ton_ of old clothes that'll fit ya."

The thought of Spirit dressed up as a fairy princess was both hilarious and upsettingly attractive. Stein swallowed past the lump forming in his throat. But there was  _power_ in Spirit's pleating pout, and, that evening, Stein found himself in a flouncy pink fairy-princess dress.

...And  _liked_ it.


End file.
